1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cat litter boxes and more particularly pertains to the screening and disposal of fecal matter from cat litter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of fecal removing screens in cat litter boxes is well known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,963,003, which issued to Oberg et al. on Dec. 6, 1960, discloses an indoor pet sand box which includes a separator or sieve comprising a frame with handles and an openwork material positioned within the frame. The openwork material allows sand to drop into the sand box while retaining fecal matter for the purposes of disposal. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,442, which issued to M. Wilson on Feb. 7, 1989, discloses a cat litter screening device which utilizes a mesh material attached to handles wherein such mesh is of a size which allows litter to drop therethrough while capturing the fecal material to be disposed of U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,560, which issued to Prince et al. on Apr. 4, 1989, discloses a further litter box sifter wherein the sifter element is in the form of a basket whereby litter may be sifted through the basket while the retention of fecal material for disposal is made possible.
As can be appreciated, the above-described prior art devices are functional for their intended purposes; however, all of these prior art devices are designed to be permanently mounted within a pet litter box and do not provide a simple means for collecting and disposing of the fecal matter once the same has been captured within a sieve structure. Further, these prior art devices are large and bulky and must be permanently mounted within a litter box. Accordingly, there would appear to exist a need for new and improved fecal matter removing devices which could more easily and efficiently accomplish the function of removing fecal matter from a litter container and in this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.